Chapter 103: The Shaman Queen and the Half Urban Legend
“I’ve heard so much, but I still don’t know who you are!” After a brief silence, Gu Qiqi asked Fang Ji.
Upon hearing this, Fang Ji smiled and without hesitation said, “I am Fang Ji, a lone Spiritual Ability User who roams around famous historical sites in search of treasures.”
The fact that Gu Qiqi asked him such a question meant she was already wavering. At times like this, if someone nudged her just a little, she would compromise.
“You should also know that treasure hunting isn’t something one can do alone. When I met you on the Gobi Desert yesterday, I thought you would be a reliable teammate…”
“But don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying you’re the kind of teammate I can entrust my life to. Our relationship is still one of mutual use, and if any danger arises, I won’t hesitate to sell you out.”
“So, how about it? Do you want to mutually use each other?”
As Fang Ji spoke, he revealed a smile more alluring than any urban legend involving witches and extended a hand toward Gu Qiqi.
After hesitating for a moment, Gu Qiqi didn’t shake his hand. Instead, she reached out, pulling the tray filled with oil tea soup and roasted bread toward herself, and began to wolf it down.
Accepting the food brought by Fang Ji represented her acceptance of his proposal.
After all, she couldn’t think of another way at the moment, so it was better to take it one step at a time.
She mentioned mutual use, right? With her cleverness, who could say who was using whom?
As for the possibility of Fang Ji poisoning the food, she didn’t consider it at all and wasn’t scared.
Having equipment salvaged from a recycling station to help Lu Qingyi create the Complete Potion’s raw liquid was good enough; it would be extraordinary if he poisoned others.
Ever since learning the alchemy left behind by the Great Serpent God in those bamboo slips, she had only poisoned someone once, and that was the Calamity…
After quickly finishing a roasted bread and taking a couple of sips of the oil tea soup, Gu Qiqi asked, “By the way, didn’t you say there are four major treasures? What about the other two?”
“Two?”
As if touched by some deeply buried secret, Fang Ji’s expression changed, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
How did she know?
Could it be that she wasn’t as simple as she appeared?
Fang Ji thought as he instinctively clenched his fist.
“Look, isn’t it common knowledge that there are five in the Four Heavenly Kings?” Gu Qiqi raised her chin and said to herself, “Following that logic, shouldn’t there be five major treasures as well?”
Fang Ji, “… ”
You really are a clever little rascal!
“Hmm…” Fang Ji thought for a moment and said, “The fourth treasure is said to be the head of a monster leader from the Western Regions, while others say it’s the sacred hat of the Huihu Shaman Queen Que Pi Jia. My guess is that it’s the core of a certain Cataclysm Grade urban legend.”
“Wait!” Gu Qiqi stuffed a piece of roasted bread in her mouth and frowned, muttering, “Isn’t the Shaman Queen a person? How could there be a core of an urban legend?”
“Why not? What if that Shaman Queen is a human who coexists with the urban legends?” Fang Ji said with a bitter smile.
“The Shaman religion believes that everything has a spirit and is particularly close to urban legends. Through some means, it’s not impossible to achieve a symbiotic relationship with powerful urban legends.”
When it comes to coexisting with urban legends, he certainly had a say.
“And what about the fifth one?” Gu Qiqi tilted her head.
Fang Ji’s mouth twitched, and he emphasized with a slightly raised voice, “There is no fifth one!”
“Oh!” Gu Qiqi responded dismissively, then silently shifted her gaze away from Fang Ji.
Clearly, she didn’t believe him.
People with simple minds are like that, always being stubborn.
Fang Ji believes there is no fifth treasure, while Gu Qiqi only thinks he’s not very clever…
Ha! Just a fool.
And he wants to use me?
————
Hole Ridge Base.
“Nanling Girl?”
The second call echoed outside the cave when Nanling Yaohua, who was fast asleep on the bed, slightly clenched her fist hidden under the blanket, then opened her eyes a crack to sneak a glance at Lu Qingyi before closing them again.
So annoying, I don’t want to get up; why doesn’t she go open the door?
“Nanling Girl, are you there? It’s an emergency!”
When the call came for the third time, Nanling Yaohua finally “woke up.” In the instant her eyes opened, a hint of sorrow flashed in her beautiful eyes.
“Just a moment, I’ll be right there.”
As soon as she spoke, Nanling Yaohua quickly got out of bed, tidied her clothes, threw on a cashmere shawl, casually gathered her long hair, inserted a bone hairpin, and then briskly walked toward the door.
The whole process took less than a minute.
“…”
Are the girls from the Gobi this rough?
But, given her looks, even if Nanling Yaohua went out without washing her face or combing her hair, she would still outshine everyone else.
It’s something ordinary people can’t learn…
Lu Qingyi watched expressionlessly from the side, several times wanting to say something but ultimately swallowed his words.
Right now, she still didn’t know whether Nanling Yaohua had uncovered her identity. For safety’s sake, it was better to say less.
The more one speaks, the more mistakes one makes.
The cave fell back into silence as Lu Qingyi stared at the door that was shut again, and after a few seconds of silence, his brows gradually furrowed.
A serious thought suddenly struck him.
No one is perfect; based on the memories he obtained in the Dream City, Nanling Yaohua had a severe case of getting up late.
When he was in Dream City, he often had to leave half an hour early to go downstairs to Nanling Yaohua’s house, and at her bedside, coaxing and promising for a long time before he could get her up.
After getting up, she would end up wasting time because of lingering in bed and subsequently fall into a state of self-reproach for a while.
For that reason, she had pitifully told Lu Qingyi more than once, “If any day you don’t come to wake me up, I’ll definitely be delayed because of that.”
Lu Qingyi would always comfort her indulgently, saying, “Then I’ll just wake you up every day, won’t that be fine?”
While speaking, one hand gently rubbed her hair, and the other hand tenderly fed her breakfast.
“…”
If the Nanling Yaohua in Dream City isn’t just a projection but her true self, then she would know about that promise. Assuming she already knew Lu Qingyi was Lu Qingyi…
Would she have been waiting for me to wake her up just now?
Hiss, thankfully I didn’t say anything reckless earlier…
Scary, this woman has too many schemes; I almost fell for it!
Thinking of this, a chill suddenly ran down Lu Qingyi’s back.
Just as he was feeling uneasy, Nanling Yaohua hurried back into the cave, picked up the long sword on the bed, and walked outside. When she reached the doorway, as if she finally remembered Lu Qingyi’s existence, she turned back and said succinctly, “Qingyi, let’s go, there’s a mission.”
Her commanding demeanor made it hard to connect with the “lazy” girl from just moments ago.
Lu Qingyi got up to follow, asking, “What happened?”
“A bunch of foolish thieves,” Nanling Yaohua continued walking while explaining, “I’ll tell you the specifics on the way.”
“By the way, can you drive…”
She initially intended to ask Lu Qingyi whether he could drive, but upon recalling how Lu Qingyi drove the truck into the base last night, she immediately changed her question to, “Can you ride a horse?”
Lu Qingyi, “… ” He had ridden half-man-horse and Shuishu Beast but wasn’t sure if the principles were very different.
————
“Nanling Girl, what exactly happened with the foolish thieves you mentioned earlier? Can you tell me now?”
“I also want to get ready before we reach the destination.”
After riding out of the Hole Ridge Base and confirming there was no one around, Lu Qingyi finally couldn’t hold back and asked her curiosity.
Nanling Yaohua glanced at Lu Qingyi and explained, “The Qingyi Girl is unaware that on this Gobi, there has existed a group of vicious bandits since hundreds of years ago.”
“Bandits?” Lu Qingyi tilted her head, “Are they Spiritual Ability Users or urban legends?”
To have the current head of the Yumen Sands Sea Branch call them bandits must mean they were not ordinary people.
“Neither.” Nanling Yaohua shook her head, “While their method of using spirital energy is similar to that of Spiritual Ability Users, technically, they are more like half urban legends, a hybrid of urban legends and humans.”
Lu Qingyi nodded expressionlessly, “Oh, and then? What did that group of bandits do?”
Nanling Yaohua turned her head to look at Lu Qingyi and regarded her with a strange gaze, “Aren’t you at all curious?”
“Curious about what?”
“Curious about where those half urban legends came from!” Nanling Yaohua said, “The existence of half urban legends should be quite rare.”
Lu Qingyi, “… ” Rare? Given that humanity’s XP system has always allowed for freedom, producing some half urban legends isn’t particularly surprising, right?
Due to the relationship with Mrs. Wang Meili and numerous folk legends, she always thought that “Grass Python Hero,” “Undead Knight,” and “Fateful Friends” were normal phenomena.
Even she herself could possibly have the potential to be “Nang”.
Seeing that Lu Qingyi wasn’t speaking, Nanling Yaohua emphasized once more, “Did you know that the members of that group of bandits often number over five hundred, and at their peak, even more than ten thousand?”
“Ah?” Lu Qingyi furrowed her brows, “That’s indeed quite…”
Could this be what they mean by, give me an urban legend, and I can create a species?
Excessive!
“So where did this group of bandits come from, and how have they lasted for hundreds of years?”
“I was just going to tell you that!” Nanling Yaohua said, “Those bandits are all descendants of an ancient Spiritual Ability User known as the Shaman King.”
“Legend has it that this Shaman King, after being defeated, didn’t d*e but was suppressed within the Yumen Pass. Over time, he gradually merged with the Yumen Pass…”
“And his descendants who roamed and lurked around the Yumen Pass believed that the urban legends escaping from the Yumen Pass are the reincarnation of the Shaman King, and being able to marry one is the utmost honor.”
“So that’s the origin of those half urban legends? I understand.” Lu Qingyi said thoughtfully, “But what does this have to do with our mission?”
“This early morning, a group of half urban legends broke the quarantine area established after the battle with the calamity and location urban legends…” Nanling Yaohua said.
“Wow, what are they after?” Lu Qingyi asked in surprise.
“You can only find out when we get to the scene.” Nanling Yaohua shrugged, “However, I suspect they think that the Siye Society has sealed that area because they found some great treasure.”
“After all, they live by plundering and have been seeking ways to rescue the Shaman King from within the Yumen Pass, using every means possible.”
“If treasures were to appear on the Gobi, they wouldn’t miss it from both the perspective of plundering wealth and rescuing the Shaman King.”
Lu Qingyi, “… ” They really are a bunch of vicious and reckless thieves.
